Partial Lunar Eclipse of 31 Dec, 2009 AD

Timezone / Date

Accuracy

Due to the erratic rotation of the Earth, the time and location of the eclipse cannot be forecast perfectly.
This eclipse's forecast is estimated to be accurate to within 2km in distance and a few seconds in time.

A partial eclipse of the Moon occurred on Thursday 31 December, 2009 UT, lasting from 17:17–21:28 UT. A tiny bite out of the Moon may have been visible at maximum, though just 8% of the Moon was shadowed in a partial eclipse which lasted for 1 hour exactly and was visible over Asia, Australasia, Europe, and Africa. A shading across the moon from the Earth's penumbral shadow should have been visible at maximum eclipse.

The timings of the phases of the eclipse are as
follows. You would have been able to see each phase of the
eclipse if the Moon was up at the corresponding time as
seen from your location; however the penumbral phase
would have been very difficult to see in practice:

Penumbral eclipse began:

17:17:08 UT

Partial eclipse began:

18:52:43 UT

Maximum eclipse:

19:22:39 UT

Partial eclipse ended:

19:52:41 UT

Penumbral eclipse ended:

21:28:11 UT

During this eclipse the Moon was just a day before perigee, making it very large.
At maximum eclipse it was 0.563° in apparent
diameter, which is 6.1% larger than average.
The statistics page has information on the ranges of the sizes of
the Sun and Moon.

Interactive Map

This map shows the visibility of the eclipse. The bright area in the
middle saw the whole eclipse; the yellow band to the right saw
the start of the eclipse, and the blue band to the left saw the
end. Note that the map is approximate,
and if you were near the edge of the area of visibility, the moon was
very close to the horizon and may not have been practically visible.

You can use the zoom controls to zoom in and out, and pan to
see areas of interest. Hover your mouse over the
tags to see what was visible from each area on the map. The green
marker in the centre shows where the Moon was directly
overhead at maximum eclipse.

Note that while all dates and times on this site (except
where noted) are in UT, which is within a second of civil time,
the dates and times shown in NASA's eclipse listingsGSFC Eclipse Web SiteThe primary source of all the information on eclipses presented here at Hermit Eclipse. [NASA Goddard Space flight Center]https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html are in the TDT timescale.

The Sun and Moon distances are shown in km, and as a
percentage of their minimum - maximum distances; hence 0%
is the closest possible (Earth's perihelion, or the
Moon's closest possible perigee) and 100% is
the farthest (aphelion, the farthest apogee).
The statistics page has information on the ranges of sizes
of the Sun and Moon.